MODULE DESCRIPTION
This 15 credit module builds on the ground laid by LW109 Foundations of Property Law and satisfies the Land Law requirement of the academic stage of professional training for those intending to practise law in England and Wales. More generally, it provides an introduction to an area of law which is unique in its nature and importance, and which is of vital concern to everyone. It is also of considerable academic interest and will engage the intellect. In particular, land law has its own terminology which will be explained and with which students will become familiar.
Upon successful completion of this module, students will be able:
- To understand the framework within which the property lawyer operates, and the wide range of matters this covers;
- To understand how the law has come to recognise certain types of interest in land, while refusing to protect other types;
and, most importantly,
- To appreciate the tension evident in the modern law between the opposing principles of certainty in the conveyancing process on the one hand, and social justice (especially the protection of the 'rights' of those who are not legal owners of property) on the other. This is often described as the tension between facilitating the transfer of ownership of land and the acknowledgement and protection of others' rights in that same land. The history of land law has been the history of making the transfer of land ownership and the creation and protection of different interests in the same piece of land ever easier, thus reflecting land's unique economic and social utility.
- Module Supervisor: Edward Mitchell